The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-03-09

| Of their eternal iSon-housa-'lnteuclssl-
mus" In drooling. moral idiocy: they are
scrabhling at the door Of their happlneSs,
which never opens: S'iserah% plaTia& the
fool.
Again. | remark that a'I those persons play
the fool as certainly as did this man OF the text,
who allow the technicallties of religion to
stop their salvation. David was wise about
O. great many things, but his cuttings-up In
the text for little while eclipsed his char
acter. And know wise men and great men,
| competent for all other stations, who are
| acting a silly and foolish part in
regard to the technicalities of religion
They ask US some cofssoTicnv and
so tfev burst into broad guffa,T. as though
| it is of any more interest to lis than it ought
to he to them. About the Atonement. about
Gods DEGREES. about mans destiny, they ask
, a great many questions which we cannot
| answer. and so they deride us. as though we
could not ask them thousand questions that
thev cannot answer, about their eyes,
about their ears. about their finger
nails, about everything. fool can
| ask a question that wise man cannot
answer o. you caviling men! o, you pro-
found men! o, you learned men, do please
admit something You have soul2 Yes.
| Will it live for ever! Yes. Where? Yousay
that Jesus Christ is not Divine Saviour.
you leave your law books, and your
! medical prescriptions, and your club room:
| and your newspaper off1ce-where will
YOU 20 to9 Your body will be six
feet under ground. Where will your
| soul bes The black coat will be off, the
shroud on. Those :spectacles will be removed
from your vision, for the sod will press your
eyelids. Have you any idea that an earthly
almanac describes the years of your lifetime?
Of what stuff shall gather the material for
the letters of that which describes
YOUR eternal home? Shall it be
iron chain or amaranthine garlands
The air that stirs the besweated locks of your
diving pillow, will it come off garden or
desert! o, quit the puzzling questions and
try these momentous questions. Quit the small
questions and try these great questions. In
stead of discussing whether the serpent
in Eden was figurative or literal,
whether the Mediterranean fish did or
did not swallow the recreant prophet,
whether this and that, and the other thing IS
ton: ''How shall 1 get rid of my sins and
win heavenT' That is the question for you.
Yea, there have been men who have actually
lost their souls because they thought there
was q discrepancy between Moses and
Professor Silliman-because they could
not understand how there could be light
before the sun rose-the light appearing. in
not until verse sixteen-and because they do
not know how the moon could stand still
without upsetting the universe, and be
cause they had decided upon the theory of
natural selection. A German philosopher
in dying had for his chief sorrow that he
had not devoted his whole life to the study Of
the dative case. o, when your immortality
sentials my dear brother. In the name Of
God. I ask you in regard to these matters Of
the immortal soul, that you do not play the
fool
What is that man doing over in Bowling
Green, New York; Well, he is going in for
ticket for a transatlantic, voyage. He IS
quarrelling with the clerk about the spots
the red spots on the ticket-and he is quarrel
ling about the peculiar signature of the Presi-
dent Of the steamship company, and he Is
quarrelling about the manner of the clerk
who hands him the ticket How long
has he been standing there! Three weeks.
Meanwhile, perhaps, twenty steamers have
gone out Of port, and hear the Shrek OF the
steam tug that could take him to the last YES
sci that could bear him to his engagement
in London. Still he stands in Bowling
Green discussing the ticket. What do
you say in regard to that man? You say
he is a fool. Well in that very way are many
men acting in regard to the matters of the
soul. They are caviling about the Atone
ment, the red spots on the ticket-about the
character of the minister who hands them
the ticket-about whether it has a
Divine or human signature, and mesn-
while, all their opportunities for heaven
are sailing out Of the harbor, and hear the
last tap Of the bell announcing their last
chance for heaven. Go aboard! Do not
waste any more time in higgling and carping,
and criticising, and wondering, aud, in the
presence of an astounded heaven, playing the
tool
20 stu further and say to you that those
men play the fool who undertake to pay out
eternity for time How little care do we be-
stow upon the railroad depot where we stop
twenty minutes to dine. We dash in and we
dash out again. We do not examine the
architecture Of the building, nor the face
Of the caterer. We supply our hunger,
hat and take our place in the train. What is
that depot as compared with the place for
which we are bound! Now, my trends, this
world is only stopping place OIL the way to
momentous destination, and yet how many
of us sit down as though we had consummated
our journey, as though we had come to final
depot, when our stopping here is as compared
with our stopping there as is twenty
minutes to twelve hours-yea, as the one
hundreth part of a second compared with ten
thousand million years! Would Spain sell us
| Cuba for bushel Of wheat? Wonld England
| sell us India for a ton of coall Would Venice
sell US all her pictures for an American school
! boys sketch! All! that would be better
bargain for England, Spain and Venice than
that man makes who gives his eternity for
| time. Yet how many there are who are say
! ing to-day: "Give me the worlds dollars
| and YOU may have the eternal rewards.
| Give me the worlds applause and you may
have the garlands of God. Give me twenty,
or forty, or sixty years of worldly, successes
and I don't care what becomes OF the future
| am going into that world uninsured. take
the responsibility Don't bother me about
your religion Here have the two worlds
before me-this one and the next have
| chosen this. Go away from me, God and
angels, and all thoughts of the future"
But where is Crocsus and Cleopatra; and
IFsopus. who had one dish Of food that cost
one million four hundred thousand dollars; and
Lentulus, who had pound of fish worth
and Scaurus who bought country seat for
twenty whine million dollars; and Tlberius.
who left at death fortune Of one hundred
and eighteen million, one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars? Where are they:
If windy day should blow all the dust that
is left of them into your eyes, it would not
make YOU wink twice! All, my friends, then
very certainly your comforts of surrounding
cannot keep back the old archer. You can
not charm him with music or dazzle him with
plate, or decoy him with pictures, or bribe
him with your money.
What is the use of your struggling for that
which YOU cannot keep! As long as you have
clothes and food and shelter and education for
yourselves and your children and the means
for Christian generosity, be satisfied You
worry, and tug, and sweat, and wear
yourself out for that which cannot sat
isfy. Whole hocks of crows feet on
your temples and cheeks before they